The raw void took form slowly, as if reality was resisting it. It didn't have a face, but it had presence—a pressure so heavy it bent time. The ground beneath it pixelated and reassembled in random chunks. Plants grew backward, stones aged to dust then reformed.
Rael gripped his glaive tighter. "It's rewriting cause and effect."
Patchling hovered overhead, data wings flaring erratically. "It's not bound by time. It acts… then makes the past match."
Kazen narrowed his eyes. "We can't predict it. But maybe we don't need to."
Oroth raised his blade. "Then we fight it now. As we are."
The void lashed out. Not a strike—but a rewrite. The world flickered.
> Alert: Personal Memory Desync Detected
> Skill Usage Disabled — Causal Logic Error
> Inventory Locked
Rael cursed. "It's disabling our actions by erasing the reasons we'd use them!"
Oroth grinned. "Then let's give it a reason it can't understand."
He dashed forward. The void moved to erase him—but Kazen launched ahead, drawing fire.
Rael followed behind, his glaive humming with suppressed power. Patchling released a flare of instability, causing the void's rewriting to falter for 0.7 seconds.
It was enough.
Kazen struck first, using no system skill—just a raw, physical blow. The void shuddered.
Rael followed, cleaving through a tendril with pure force of will.
Oroth landed next, his sword glowing—not from power, but *belief*. He forced the void to register his presence.
"Recognize this timeline. It's real because we choose it."
The void shrieked. It tried to rewrite their memories—but Patchling's encryption protocol flared to life, shielding their identities.
> Memory Lock Engaged
> Identity Core Reinforced
> Void Rejection at 63%
"Push harder!" Kazen shouted. "Before it adapts!"
They fought together. No skills. No system. Just the present moment, locked in place by their combined will.
And for the first time, the void weakened.
Patchling channeled the data from the echo-Oroth, feeding it into a seal. A single line of code formed above the breach.
> Reality Anchor: Initialized
The void roared. It rushed forward one last time.
Oroth stood tall.
"You do not belong here."
And with a final swing, they struck as one.
The void shattered like broken glass, and the breach sealed behind it.
For now.